I have an old steel ridgeback road frame on the way to me from fleaBay, in the photos I noticed a pair of screw on cable stops near the top of the downtube, So I assume there’s a pair of Downtube mounts behind them…

And thus I find myself poking through the spares box(es) and mulling over build ideas. What are the collective opinions on the following collection of buzzwords…

1x, downtube mounted, friction shifting, nine speed… rapid rise.

Too many Niches in one go?

It’s just an old bike with a derailleur. I don’t think that’s a niche 🙂

I’d say just sensible. How about 3×1? Single cog out back with a triple.

Why?

I’m a big fan of Jumble builds. I like to try to put the bits I’ve accumulated to use.

Key question, do you really like using friction shifting and down tube mounting, or are you just curious to try them? I prefer indexed shifting and brifters, thumbshifters or bar end mounting over down tube mounts. If you have a shifter with both modes you can often switch to friction mode if you prefer it. Nice to have the option imho.

I think 7, 8 and 9 speed are still good, reliable choices. I think 1x is a fad at present, that notwithstanding, if it covers the gear range you need then why not.

I bloody live dt friction to the point where the ultegra carbon bike git sacked off.

Its just a nice sedate way to ride.

If you don’t have any spoons, how about a corkscrew brake set up?

The shifters in the spares box are friction only, I might be tempted to look at an index option though.

I do like the idea of a 1x drivetrain though, even though I have most of the necessary parts for 2x…

The most odd bit is going to be the rapid rise mech (XT) I’m not sure how that will be to use with a friction shifter, but it’s got a bit of capacity for a larger cassette and if I do switch to index later it’ll work with lots of old shimano shifters.

IT WASN’T A SPOON!

This phrase now comes up on my predictive text when I use capitals 😂

This phrase now comes up on my predictive text when I use capitals

Oh, now that is just magnificent.

😂